Welcome, back we're
exploring Jesus' experience
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with disciples in
Mathew, chapter 24.
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They've just asked
him about the temple.
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What would become of it?
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And they have asked
him, the question was,
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"tell us when will this be?
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What will be your
sign of your coming
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and the close of the age?"
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Okay, so let us see
what we have in the text.
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We saw that the
questions of the disciples
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to Jesus were
related to Jesus' comment.
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That, no stone will be left
up on the stone of the temple.
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And it's also
related to what we saw,
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before in Chapter
23, that the house,
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the temple will
be left desolate.
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Evidently this was a shocking
statement for the disciples.
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So when they reached the Mount
of Olives they couldn't wait.
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They approach Jesus and
they asked Jesus 3 questions.
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This is very
important to keep in mind.
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The first question was, "when
will these things take place?"
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Which things? The
destruction of the temple.
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But then immediately
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there are two other
questions that they ask Jesus.
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"What is the sign of your coming
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and the sign of
the end of the age?"
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You see, they
ask these 3 questions
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combining them together
because when will destruction
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of the temple take place, when?
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At the end of the
age, it's evidently
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when Jesus comes
again at His coming.
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There could be
nothing worst. Nothing worst.
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So you see the problem is
with the Mathew, Chapter 24,
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that we have hard time
always to understand some text.
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Because the way how
the disciples ask to Jesus.
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Now Jesus gives them the answer.
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Since, they connected
the destruction of Jerusalem
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and destruction of the temple.
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They connected with
the end of the world.
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This is how
Jesus actually answers.
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So we are not sure always,
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even though we can be
sure enough as we will see it.
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As Jesus was explaining to them
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sometimes Jesus talks about
the destruction of Jerusalem.
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Sometimes Jesus
talks about His coming.
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But the keyword that
we have here is "when?"
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And second is, what is the sign?
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So now Jesus
gives them the answer.
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And when we read
Mathew Chapter 24,
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the speech that Jesus made
to His disciples in answering
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the question actually it
really falls into 3 parts.
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It's very important to
keep these 3 parts in view.
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The first parts
are Verses 4 to 15.
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Glenn, can you
just read some verses
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and make quick survey,
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give us some glimpse into
some of these verses. Okay.
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Okay, we don't have a
time to read everything.
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Sure, Mathew 24:4,
"And Jesus answered them,
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'Take heed that no
one leaves you astray.
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For many will come in my
name saying I am the Christ.
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And they will lead many astray
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and you'll hear of
wars and rumors of wars.
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See that you're not alarmed
for this must take place.
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The end is yet. For
nation will rise against nation,
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kingdom against kingdom.
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There will be
famines and earthquakes.
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Beginnings of birth pains.'"
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Verse 9, "Then
they will deliver you up
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to tribulation
and put you to death."
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In Verse 10, "Many will fall
away and betray one and other."
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Verse 11, "There will be
many false prophets to arise."
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Verse 12,
"Wickedness is multiplied.
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Men's hearts-- Love--
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His love grows cold.
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Verse 13, "he who
endures to the end."
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Verse 14, "And this
gospel of the kingdom
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will be preached
throughout all the world
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as a testimony to all nations
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and then the end will come."
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Okay, this is the first part.
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What is Jesus talking about?
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So many times Christians
are taking these verses
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to read as the sign of
the second coming of Christ.
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When we see
earthquakes. When we see famine.
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When we see pestilence.
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When we hear of wars
and rumors of wars etcetera.
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We know that Jesus Christ,
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the second coming
of Christ, is here.
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Unfortunately there is one
thing that we have noticed.
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That all these
things were fulfilled
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already during the
time of the disciples.
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Actually in the
book of "Desire of Ages"
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we make very very
clear that Jesus in giving us
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these signs
describing this actually
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He pointed really this to
the destruction of Jerusalem.
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He's answering their immediate
question. Immediate question.
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However, Jesus also
pointed about something
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what will take
also place in the world
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all up to the
time of his disciples.
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I have here in my
hand a photocopy of,
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Sabbath School Quarterly,
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which was one of several lessons
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that we have in Mathew
24 in last lets say twelve,
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thirteen years that we
have been studying, okay.
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All the week long about this.
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It says, Mathew 24
and I am like to read
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what we have been
studying in the year 2002.
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It's a spring quarter semester
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actually about the
meaning of these signs.
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I don't want to put in my words.
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I want to officially
what we are teaching.
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It says, "what is the purpose
of these signs of the end?
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It was not Jesus
purpose to expound
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up on the series of events
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that we could use to establish
the date of His coming."
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We see earthquakes,
"Oh, Jesus is coming soon."
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Of course, He's
coming. We'll explain this.
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"Instead, He
talks about the signs
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so they will keep
afresh in our minds
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the promise of His return.
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Jesus mentioned events that
would happen throughout history
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and whenever one of
they of them take place,
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His people make the connection
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with the second
coming of Christ."
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Let me make one
little bit unusual statement.
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And we will explain it.
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Did Jesus here provide
the signs of His coming? Yes.
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But these signs are
not the signs of the end.
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That's make difference.
We better unpack that one.
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How many times Jesus
he tell these things.
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He says, "the end is not is yet.
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The end is not yet.
This is just the beginning.
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The end is not yet."
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What Jesus
provided here we call,
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the so called, general signs
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that were suppose to
take place in the world
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between the his first
coming and the second coming.
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To always remind the
every generation of Christians
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that Jesus
indeed is coming soon.
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But not to tell
us take these signs
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to establish the
date that the end is here.
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Does that-- Sure, so if I say,
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"there's more
famines this year than last
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therefore Jesus
is coming this year,"
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that's a misunderstanding
of text. Yes, that's true.
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You're saying that
there have regularly
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have been earthquakes,
famines to remind us.
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Yes we see to day. We
have to remind our viewers
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that those signs
have intensified.
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With every
generation of Christians
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these signs have
become intensified.
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More and more.
More severe etcetera.
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But the problem is we have today
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those signs are
very much intensified.
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What if Jesus does not
come in next ten years?
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Those signs will be
even more intensified.
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And this reason we do not know.
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We will see in Mathew 24 and 25
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that Jesus reminds
His disciples constantly
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about the day and
hour, about the time
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when I am coming. Nobody knows,
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these signs are not given
to us to establish the date.
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By the way I want
to show to the readers
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I have on two
pages. All these signs
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that Jesus
mentioned here telling us
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I have the evidence
historical evidences,
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how they were all fulfilled
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and prior to the
destruction with Jerusalem.
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So these kinds of things
took place and the disciples
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who were the
witnesses of Jesus' answer
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went through those experiences.
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He's preparing them
firstly for what lies ahead.
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So see the
purpose of these signs
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is always to keep afresh
in our minds that Jesus--
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you see we see today signs.
I can mention number of them.
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Do you remember
tsunami that we had? Yes.
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The Christians were at ease.
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They don't care about
second coming of Christ.
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These work is so much
attached to the heart,
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they don't think
about the future.
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And then suddenly something
happens. Terrible in the world.
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Suddenly the same Christians
are going there to the Bible.
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We know, after numerous events
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in United States that happened,
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I don't want to listen
about Katrina and many others.
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Many wars that we experienced.
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Suddenly we
have even newer times
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we have special issue dedicated
to that how suddenly Americans
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they started talking about
the second coming of Christ.
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They started talking
about the end of the world.
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Not before. Before the
percentage of Christians
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talking about second coming
of Christ, about the future,
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about the end of at the end
of the world, was very small.
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Suddenly people wake up
and start talking about that.
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You see, this is the
purpose of the signs.
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To remind us always. To
keep in afresh in our minds
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that Jesus is coming
soon. Actually to wake us up--
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So there is an urgency,
an urgency of being alert.
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Yes. Watch is
what He often says.
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So Jesus give us
here those general signs.
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After that Jesus
moves to the second,
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to the second part
telling Christians.
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And what is the second part?
00:10:10.37\00:10:11.71
Glenn, please would you do
me favor and read verse 15.
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"So when you see
the desolating sacrilege
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spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
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standing in the holy place,
let the reader understand."
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And then he says, "then--
Please read a few more verses.
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"Then let those who were in
Judaea flee to the mountains.
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But Him who is on the house top
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not go down to take
what is in his house.
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And let him who is in the field
not turn back to his mantle.
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And last for those who
are with child and for those
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who are nursing a
child in those days,
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pray that your flight
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may not be in the
winter or on the Sabbath."
00:10:45.91\00:10:48.14
Can we stop here for a while?
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Unfortunately I don't
want to be critical of people,
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specially my dear
friends, Christians.
00:10:53.78\00:10:56.02
But we have a million of
Christians in United States,
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who believe that Jesus
He appoints of the sign
00:10:58.92\00:11:01.36
of the great
tribulation that will take place
00:11:01.39\00:11:05.09
prior to the
second coming of Christ.
00:11:05.13\00:11:07.23
I will suggest to you
that this is not exactly
00:11:07.30\00:11:10.63
what the text says.
When Jesus talks here
00:11:10.67\00:11:14.47
about the
abomination of desolation
00:11:14.50\00:11:17.04
about which the
prophet Daniel speaks,
00:11:17.07\00:11:19.84
we have go to go
back to Daniel, Chapter 9,
00:11:19.87\00:11:23.55
where Daniel talks
about the Roman army
00:11:23.58\00:11:27.08
as the fourth world empire
00:11:27.12\00:11:30.09
that will come and
to destroy Jerusalem.
00:11:30.12\00:11:33.29
So Jesus is talking here about
the destruction of Jerusalem.
00:11:33.32\00:11:37.43
Not the end of the
world. How do you know that?
00:11:37.46\00:11:39.49
Do you have any support
of that? Yes, praise God.
00:11:39.53\00:11:42.73
That's why I
like to read the Bible
00:11:42.76\00:11:46.37
and compare the
scripture scripture.
00:11:46.40\00:11:48.24
Because we have the same
sermon that is found here,
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it's also found there
in the gospel of Luke.
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But I would like to suggest us
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that we leave this topic
for our next presentation.
00:11:58.85\00:12:03.65
Praise God we're
not left in uncertainty
00:12:03.69\00:12:06.86
about the second
coming of Christ.
00:12:06.89\00:12:08.42
God cares for us and he
put many things in the nature.
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He allows certain events
to take place in this world
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to remind us constantly
that this world is not our home
00:12:17.53\00:12:22.04
and that Jesus indeed
is coming soon. Very soon.
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